Yes it’s true: Netflix’s new reality competition show The Big Flower Fight is a direct descendant of The Great British Baking Show, but instead of baked goods, it’s about flowers. Are the giant floral sculptures made by the ten teams of designers a little ridiculous? Sure. That’s the fun part.
If it’s time to cleanse your TV palate with something that’s joyful and low stakes, if you’re looking for a show that will soothe your weary soul, you’ve found it. Come, marvel at the insane floral and plant sculptures people dream up and then create with their hands in less than a day! Come, stare at pretty plants for eight episodes! Come, be moved to tears by a three-meter orangutan made out of grass! It’s easy to forget how much you need a good-natured show to feed your soul every once and awhile, so here are 14 moments from The Big Flower Fight that serve as reminders that we can, and should, have nice things sometimes.
When Vic Reeves says, “We built a gigantic dome in the English countryside and equipped it with gardening and floristry tools.”
Episode 1, “Enormous Insects”
The delight that comes upon hearing co-host Vic Reeves introduce The Big Flower Fight with that sentence cannot be overstated. What a legitimately insane sequence of words. And yet … when you see that big-ass dome out in the actual English countryside, it brings with it an overwhelming sense of peace. It is a beautiful, vibrant, safe space where imaginations can run wild, away from the madness of the real world. Honestly, why aren’t we building more domes in more countrysides?
The first time Natasia Demetriou exclaims that “the nursery is open!” and the contestants go hog wild for flowers
Episode 1, “Enormous Insects”
The joy over the sheer variety of floral options available! The frustration they share when there’s not enough of what they need because someone else has taken it! How wonderful to see people so excited and passionate about something. “Will I ever love anything as much as some of these people love plants?” I asked myself as a single tear rolled down my cheek and fell onto the sweatpants I had been wearing for three days straight.
When Henck argues with the judges because he wants his sphinx-moth sculpture to be ugly
Episode 1, “Enormous Insects”
Best friends and event florists Henck and Yan are true stars from the get-go, but it’s cemented the moment head judge Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht tells Henck and Yan that he wants their moth to be beautiful and Henck flat-out says no, because moths aren’t beautiful. Yan has to tell him that it might not be the best strategy to go against the judges’ wishes. “It’s my first competition, love,” Henck replies in a moment so pure I have rewatched it several times. This man doesn’t care about conventional beauty or floral design reality competition strategies, he cares about his art! The moth they make ends up being gorgeous, of course, but may this moment cleanse your soul of all the icky reality-TV competition moments it has had to endure in the past. I’m looking at you, everything that has happened on The Bachelor.
The floral fashion-show reveal
Episode 2, “Fabulous Floral Fashion”
All of the challenge reveals are pretty spectacular — the beachscape! The giant dinner table in a field! — but episode two’s fashion show with real models might be the one to make you audibly gasp. We’re in a giant, dark barn! The fog machine is set to high! There is fairytale music that sounds like cherubs are singing! You feel like you’ve walked into a magical museum come to life. It’s all just so gosh-darn pretty.
When guest judge Simon Lycett tells Jim that his dad Ralph is beaming with pride for his son
Episode 2, “Fabulous Floral Fashion”
Honestly, this list could be made up entirely of moments between father-and-son team Ralph and Jim (Ralph calls them “the dad and lad” team, be still my heart), because they are precious gifts, but I’ll keep it to just a few since I am a professional. During the second challenge, Jim, the designer of the team, gets in his head and almost melts down, but is brought back from the brink by encouraging words from his dad. During the critique, guest judge Simon Lycett gives Jim a stern talking-to in which he tells the kid that he wishes he had as much confidence in himself as his dad has in him. “…[Y]ou should see how he looks at you,” he tells Jim. “He has such pride in what you are capable of.” And Ralph does have so much pride for his son, you guys. He really does.
The orangutan critique
Episode 3, “Huge Hairy Beasts”
For the “hairy beasts” challenge, Henck and Yan build an enormous orangutan sitting on top of a scrapyard to call attention to how deforestation has brought orangutans to the brink of extinction. They even include a mirror to reveal “the true beast”: humans. Listen, I never thought I’d be crying over a floral sculpture of a giant ape, but life is weird sometimes. The judges describe it as having “haunting emotion” and it will move you regardless of where you fall on the animal lover scale. It means so much to Henck and Yan and after the praise from the judges, Henck starts bawling! So, we’re all crying over this orangutan, okay? It is our truth!!!
Andrew and Ryan’s tinfoil-throne reveal
Episode 4, “Giant Edible Thrones”
Hi, hello, Andrew and Ryan, who are artists and not floral designers, create a giant, gorgeous “stone” throne for Merlin made out of tinfoil. It’s so beautiful and fantastic, it’s like, how do I ever look at the leftovers in my fridge the same way again? What potential lies wrapped around my three day old slice of pizza? What beauty is being squandered by the piece of chicken breast I’m saving but know I’ll never eat? TINFOIL, YOU GUYS.
When Ralph explains that his dandelion mobile represents his kids leaving the nest
Episode 5, “Magnificent Mobiles”
I warned you about this man!!! During the critique of Ralph and Jim’s dandelion mobile, Dome Dad Ralph explains the emotion he wanted to evoke with this piece. The dandelion seeds blowing in the wind are like his kids growing up and moving out: “You want to try and catch them and bring them back, but you know you mustn’t. You’ve gotta let them go.” AND NOW WE’RE ALL CRYING ABOUT DANDELION MOBILES.
When the judges whisper about the projects behind plants
SEVERAL TIMES!!
Why are the judges and hosts always hiding behind plants and whispering commentary on the progress of contestant projects instead of going to a different location to discuss things? I don’t know and I never want to. Please never change this element of the show, it is perfect.
Yan’s sailor outfit
Episode 6, “Sea Creatures”
To be honest, this is probably one of Yan’s most subdued outfits — he wears a clown collar for an entire episode — but it truly, as they say, sparks joy. The sailor shirt, the hat, the sunglasses, and all for an ocean-themed challenge? It’s adorable.
That whole crab debacle
Episode 6, “Sea Creatures”
This show isn’t too keen on contestants helping each other, but when Andi and Helen’s giant crab looks like it’s going to come crashing down, everyone stops what they’re doing and runs over to help hold it up. Even our hosts Vic and Natasia come over to help Andi and Helen start rebuilding the crab after it falls. And Yan, dear Yan! He is so overcome with emotion, knowing the heartbreak Andi and Helen must be feeling, that he cries and urges the ladies to push on! That dome is filled with so much camaraderie in that moment. It’s just nice to see people being kind to one another, okay?
Every Ralph and Jim moment in Episode 7, there is no way to choose just one
Episode 7, “Green Giants”
Watch this reality competition show, they said! It’s about floral design, they said! Well, no one warned us that in episode seven a father and son would build an “anxiety monster” to represent the son’s struggle with anxiety and the dad would talk about how hard it is to see his son like that and that he picked prickly bushes to put around the monster to represent being unable to reach his son, did they? DID THEY? After Ralph and Jim explain the meaning behind their anxiety monster, they go have a little walk away from everyone where they hug it out. “We kept it together, man,” Jim says to his dad. They are the only ones.
When Natasia Demetriou acts as the model for the evil witch sculpture
Episode 8, “Fairytale Finale”
Come on, that’s just hilarious.
When everyone celebrates the winning team
Episode 8, “Fairytale Finale”
When the winners are announced, the two losing teams are basically like, “oh yeah, they definitely deserved to win.” Everyone just seems so proud of the work they’ve done, so impressed with the winning team’s final sculpture, and excited about what this competition does for the floral industry, that there’s not one single thing to be sad about. Well, except that this whole thing is over and now you’ll have to go look for real flowers in the real outdoors and not in a dome to feel anything ever again.
